We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Stephen Lu. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Stephen below.

Alright, Stephen thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. What was it like going from idea to execution? Can you share some of the backstory and some of the major steps or milestones?

Starting A Lasting Strength was a bit like a trial by fire. It was initially a sole-proprietor company, started right in the middle of the COVID pandemic. I was at home in quarantine, and I was working for a forensic service laboratory at the time. I’ve always had the urge to work in the service of the public or for those in need, and I have web development skills under my belt. Additionally, by this point, I had been going through some health issues for several years that seemed to be getting worse slowly; while I didn’t know (and still don’t know) what the cause was, I knew that people who had been diagnosed with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) were certainly going through a rough time not only with the disease but also with the pandemic piled on. I decided to focus my company’s goals on supporting people who have been diagnosed with ALS to contribute what I could in order to provide additional resources.

The next year was slow going, and I realized that it is difficult to run a support organization that doesn’t have the credibility of being a 501c3 organization. So I had to do research to find out how to do this. When it came time to select a Board of Directors, I approached two of my very good friends, Kyle and Michael, to propose and enact this idea. They agreed to the plan, and we incorporated A Lasting Strength in September 2021. It wasn’t long after that when we achieved 501c3 status with the IRS! Our passion for helping really fuels our growth, and we’re not expecting our organization to explode in further growth because that is not our primary goal.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers

Our mission statement at A Lasting Strength is, “Change what it means to be living with ALS.” We strive to raise the public’s awareness of ALS with community outreach and to help pALS (people with ALS) continue to live meaningful and purposeful lives by providing resources and financial support. I firmly believe that keeping your mind active, growing your knowledge, and testing the limits of your imagination are immensely helpful in preserving the quality of life and perhaps even longevity. We accept grant applications from ALS patients who need technology or equipment to improve their quality of life or who want an experience that would otherwise be unattainable due to financial constraints or physical limitations. We are also working on offering a Mobility Donation Program for residents of San Diego County. The aim of this program is to provide mobility solutions to those who need them. Right now, we have only wheelchairs, but we are always open to acquiring different devices based on what someone might need, regardless of diagnosis or disability.

Our team is a close-knit, rag-tag bunch. We might not have the resources of the larger ALS organizations out there, but we have the same drive and passion for helping where we can. We are also well-suited to each of our positions: Kyle is the Director of Technology, and he works with the UC San Diego Health System, supporting their technology assets and users. Michael is the Director of Finance, and he currently works as a Candidate Experience Coordinator with Cisco Hire & Engage through Randstad Sourceright. He was a mathematics instructor for students, and he has a passion for teaching. I am the Executive Director, and I have found my love for entrepreneurship in retirement! I am immensely proud of the team I have gathered at A Lasting Strength. I feel we can make a good impact on the world around us in the best possible way together rather than separately.

How’d you meet your business partner?

I first met Kyle and Michael shortly after I moved to San Diego. We have a mutual friend in North County who I went to high school with in Arizona, and she introduced us to each other. We all went to taco nights, game nights, and house parties every so often; Comic-con was also a major event for our group.

When I started having medical problems and was hospitalized, Kyle and Michael were steadfast friends and stayed with me; they also helped me get to the ER a few times. Ever since then, they’ve always made themselves available to help me by providing meals in rough times and with transportation to the doctor or physical therapy appointments after I had to relinquish driving.

With their unwavering support, they have shown kindness, compassion, and dedication; I knew they were the best people to join the Board of Directors at A Lasting Strength. They embody the kind of leadership a support organization needs.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

Growing up, I didn’t play too many sports. I was on a kids’ soccer team for a quick minute, and the most I participated in school was physical education and whatever sports we were doing at the time. However, I was physically agile. In elementary school, my English teacher was a rock climber, and he introduced slacklining to us. I picked it up within a couple of days and was going back and forth on that line all day long. We participated in the President’s Badge of Fitness (I think it was called), and I scored top marks. After elementary school, the most I ever did was play on my high school’s tennis team for a little while; daily physical activity and sports just never made it into my repertoire.

My fitness journey didn’t take off until a sergeant at the Arizona Department of Public Safety introduced CrossFit to the PT program. It was rough getting started, but I was hooked after the first week. When her program was complete, I wanted to keep going, so I joined her gym in Tucson. Since then, I made physical health and fitness something I gave my time to, not because I felt like it was a necessity but because it was something I deeply enjoyed.

Along with physical activity, the community and camaraderie that comes with it are invaluable. The feeling of having others support me through a tough workout and encouraging me to push through to the end is invigorating and immeasurable. I gained lifelong friends from people I’ve met throughout my fitness journey, people that have much love and support to give one another.

So began my journey. It had awoken me to the possibilities of what I was physically capable of with hard work, focus, and consistency. It literally changed my life. With this newfound strength, I started rock climbing, running, cycling, hiking, snowboarding, paddle boarding, and tried surfing. I wanted to do it all.

Then, something changed.

I started noticing that after even a light workout, I was getting winded pretty easily. Recovery days started to feel worse, and my energy levels sagged. After moving to San Diego in 2012, I tried to keep up the CrossFit routine and joined a gym. Most days were good, but there was that occasional period where my body told me it was not happening. I didn’t think too much of it. There was a lot going on in my life with the move and the new job, so I brushed away this nagging dip as being tired from everything else.

I love lifting kettlebells. Whenever there was a kettlebell workout at the gym, a part of me always got excited. They are versatile, and performing movements with them works a whole host of muscles. Balance, strength, and coordination — a golden trio of fitness. I figured my expiration date with CrossFit had come, and it was just too much. When I started looking for another gym, a co-worker introduced me to a kettlebell gym near my home in San Diego, and it was a perfect fit. I took more introductory courses in kettlebell lifting and fell in love all over again. I was back.

After training with kettlebells for a while, I felt like I was heading uphill again, getting stronger and gaining more endurance. I even participated in some kettlebell lifting competitions, which was something I never even dreamed about or thought I could ever achieve.

Then, the fatigue came back. After almost every workout, I was utterly exhausted, and recovery eventually took longer and longer. Where one day of rest used to bring my energy back, it took two, then three. Gradually, I started to miss more and more days of training; my body was telling me, “Not yet.” I still have a few vivid memories of events that happened: one day, it was sudden, severe vertigo, another, it was debilitating back pain after returning home. I wasn’t sure what was happening.

So I stopped altogether. It wasn’t what I wanted to do, but I’ve learned along the way to listen to my body. I would go back occasionally to work on mobility and light weightlifting to maintain my strength, but I felt like I had to take a break again.

Around this time, I still had a lot going on in my life. I had remodeled my house, work went through a huge move to a new building, and at the time, I was still working some odd and sometimes very long hours. To me, everything was pointing to life being the cause of my troubles. Then, September 2018 happened. Over the period of two months, recurring medical events put me in the ER multiple times, and I was hospitalized twice. This was the tipping point. After recovering somewhat and still in denial, I tried to get back into physical fitness by joining another CrossFit gym. It was well-intentioned but short-lived. Recurring back pain, continued flagging energy, breathlessness, and a fall during an obstacle course told me otherwise. I had to stop.

Near the end of 2019, going into 2020, I signed up for some movement and breathing courses. My body had forgotten how to breathe. It’s not something one generally thinks about over the course of a day; I have to think about each breath. It’s exhausting. Returning to diaphragmatic breathing and maintaining mobility in my body has saved me multiple times. I wake up from slumber feeling as if I haven’t been breathing or as if I’m drowning in my own breathlessness. When I practice 10 deep, diaphragmatic breaths, the wooziness exits, and sleep can come again.

I’m still figuring things out as this something continues to change me. This story is not an expression of remorse over the loss of my ability to do what I used to do. Rather, thank you, body. Thank you for letting me experience so much and achieve some personal milestones. Most of all, I thank all of those who came with me on this journey and on all the journeys of everyone they’ve invited, taught and touched in their own way.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.alastingstrength.net/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lasting.strength/
• Facebook: http://facebook.com/lasting.strength/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/a-lasting-strength/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/ALStrength_SD
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@lasting.strength